QIAGEN partners with IT leaders on novel infrastructure for genomics

At Bio-IT World we had the pleasure to demonstrate the results of our work with the information technology leaders Intel and BioTeam.

Our collaborations create infrastructure solutions that make population-scale genomic analysis feasible for more researchers. We’ve been working together with Intel to bring world-class infrastructure together with industry-leading genome analysis tools to enable massively scalable whole genome analysis at lower cost. Together with BioTeam we’re creating a proof-of-concept high-performance computing (HPC) appliance.

For more details about the partnerships, please read the official press release below.

Press release

QIAGEN partners with IT leaders on novel infrastructure for genomics

Demonstrates high-performance computing and genome analysis solutions at Bio-IT World

Boston, Massachusetts, and Hilden, Germany, April 5, 2016– QIAGEN N.V. today announced it will demonstrate the result of its work with information technology leaders Intel and BioTeam at Bio-IT World. Together these collaborations create infrastructure solutions that make population-scale genomic analysis feasible for more researchers. QIAGEN Bioinformatics has worked with Intel to develop a computational solution and reference architecture for whole genome analysis, and with BioTeam to create a proof-of-concept high-performance computing (HPC) appliance. QIAGEN is demonstrating both of these solutions at the Bio-IT World Conference and Expo from April 5-7 in Boston.

“By combining our industry-leading genome analysis applications with hardware solutions from leaders like Intel and BioTeam, QIAGEN Bioinformatics is providing world-class infrastructure to help scientists reveal actionable insights from genomic data,” said Dr. Laura Furmanski, Senior Vice President and head of QIAGEN’s Bioinformatics Business Area. “While next-generation sequencing is a momentous advance, society cannot realize the full potential without a corresponding ability to analyze NGS data quickly and accurately. Researchers and clinicians need cost-effective, comprehensive tools for calling and interpreting variants across whole human genomes, and we are providing these novel solutions.”

QIAGEN’s collaboration with Intel developed a reference architecture designed to produce high-volume whole genome data analysis, keeping up with the world’s highest-capacity sequencers, helping NGS scientists keep their sequencing pipelines running smoothly and efficiently. This offering leverages QIAGEN’s CLC Genomics Server software on a compute cluster of 32 Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family based nodes. It provides built-in analysis tools, scalability, fast connection and parallel storage, using Intel Enterprise Edition for Lustre, the world’s largest parallel storage system. In tests, the solution analyzed data quickly and for as little as $22 per genome. It will be described in a conference presentation at Bio-IT World from 3:30-3:50 p.m. on April 6.

“The collaboration with QIAGEN Bioinformatics targets the vexing challenges presented by soaring demand for genome analysis, commonly faced by NGS scientists,” said Ketan Paranjape, GM Life Sciences at Intel. “Optimized solution architectures for these workloads enable researchers to keep pace as sequencers process more genomes than we could have imagined, even a few years ago — all while taking advantage of open systems to save money as well.”

BioTeam and QIAGEN’s proof-of-concept appliance packages CLC Genomics Server with the BioTeam Appliance scientific computing platform to provide a cost-effective, high-performance offering. The flexible, customizable solution delivers a system that maps the computational requirements of the CLC Bio software to an infrastructure that complements its capabilities. The BioTeam Appliance demo at Bio-IT World will be at the QIAGEN Bioinformatics booth (#229) from 1:30-1:45 p.m. on April 6.

“Bioinformatics is an ideal market for high-performance computing, and our simple, end-to-end appliance removes a significant barrier to adoption for many customers,” said Stan Gloss, Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer at BioTeam. “Our plug-and-play solution enables scientists to focus on research rather than on creating complex IT systems from scratch. We look forward to continuing development of this proof-of-concept model with the QIAGEN Bioinformatics team.”

About BioTeam

BioTeam is a high-performance consulting practice dedicated to delivering objective, technology agnostic solutions to the life science researchers. We leverage the right technologies customized to our client’s unique needs in order to enable them to reach their scientific objectives.

About QIAGEN

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company, is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions to transform biological materials into valuable molecular insights. QIAGEN sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials. Assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. Automation solutions tie these together in seamless and cost-effective molecular testing workflows. QIAGEN provides these workflows to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics (human healthcare), Applied Testing (forensics, veterinary testing and food safety), Pharma (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies) and Academia (life sciences research). As of December 31, 2015, QIAGEN employed approximately 4,600 people in over 35 locations worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

Certain of the statements contained in this news release may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. To the extent that any of the statements contained herein relating to QIAGEN’s products, markets, strategy or operating results, including without limitation its expected operating results, are forward-looking, such statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations, regulatory processes and dependence on logistics), variability of operating results and allocations between customer classes, the commercial development of markets for our products in applied testing, personalized healthcare, clinical research, proteomics, women’s health/HPV testing and nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics; changing relationships with customers, suppliers and strategic partners; competition; rapid or unexpected changes in technologies; fluctuations in demand for QIAGEN’s products (including fluctuations due to general economic conditions, the level and timing of customers’ funding, budgets and other factors); our ability to obtain regulatory approval of our products; difficulties in successfully adapting QIAGEN’s products to integrated solutions and producing such products; the ability of QIAGEN to identify and develop new products and to differentiate and protect our products from competitors’ products; market acceptance of QIAGEN’s new products, the consummation of acquisitions, and the integration of acquired technologies and businesses. For further information, please refer to the discussions in reports that QIAGEN has filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).